Words: - Pages: 3. Internal Characters In Fifth Business This proves how Paul is similar to Boy being materialistic, as Paul became a sex slave to one of the greatest magicians of his time to learn magic and become the best, while giving up his innocents. Words: - Pages: 8. Words: - Pages: 5. Character Of Beatty In Fahrenheit He began to suspect Montag due to his uncanny behavior, having a curiosity about the books.
Great Book Definition Faustus is a great book of a man that goes by the name Faustus, who grows bored with learning about things like medicine, religion, law, and logic, and he wants to find something that he thinks is worth learning about because he believes that these things are not beneficial to learn about. How Does Dr Faustus Make Death Decisions Faustus is unsatisfied with his accomplishments, so he decides to practice witchcraft to satisfy his thirst for knowledge, but the knowledge comes with a price: his soul.
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Follow Facebook Twitter. Charles V, Emperor of Germany The emperor who holds a feast for Faustus and at whose court Faustus illustrates his magical powers. Knight A haughty and disdainful knight who insults Faustus. In revenge, Faustus makes a pair of horns appear on the knight. Duke and Duchess of Vanholt A couple whom Faustus visits and for whom he conjures up some grapes. Robin An ostler who steals some of Dr. Faustus' books and tries to conjure up some devils. The soliloquy is an ideal device for establishing a strong relationship between a character and an audience, for it seems to give us access to that character's mind at work.
We listen as he tries to make up his mind, now that he has been awarded a doctorate in theology, what subject he wants to specialise in. Immediately, then, we hear a note of dissatisfaction and restlessness in Faustus's voice; despite his dazzling academic success, he is impatient for more knowledge. Yet as he runs through the four main academic disciplines he has studied — philosophy, medicine, law and theology — he dismisses each of them as an intellectual dead-end.
Faustus feels that he has already achieved everything that the study of philosophy and medicine has to offer. For a moment, he returns to divinity as the most worthy profession, but then rejects that as well, as the passages he reads from Jerome's Bible stress only human sinfulness and the damnation that awaits it.
So what is it that Faustus wants that these traditional fields of study fail to supply? What he wants, then, is to transcend his human limitations, to break through the boundaries that place what he sees as artificial restrictions on human potential. Historical periods are too complex to be boiled down to a single, defining essence; nor are there clear breaks between them. Nevertheless, there were developments in Europe from the fourteenth to the eighteenth century that, broadly speaking, encouraged a newly secular view of the world: the growth of scientific investigation into the structure of the universe and the laws of the physical world; the voyages of exploration, expansion of trade routes and colonisation of the Americas; the new technology of printing, which allowed for the rapid dissemination of new ideas and discoveries; and the development of a humanist educational programme, based on the study of ancient Greek and Latin authors, and dedicated to the restoration of classical ideals of civic virtue and public service.
When he tells Mephistopheles that he is not afraid of damnation because he believes instead in the classical Greek afterlife see 1. It is highly unlikely, though, that any sixteenth-century humanist would have countenanced this kind of explicit challenge to Christian doctrine, so if Faustus represents the secular aspirations of the Renaissance, he does so in an extreme or exaggerated form.
Moreover, the fact that Doctor Faustus is set in a Christian universe and affirms the reality of hell and damnation should warn us not to overstate the secular values of Renaissance England. Indeed, what the play explores — its principal theme — is the conflict between the confidence and ambition its protagonist embodies, and the Christian faith, which remained a powerful cultural force when Marlowe was writing and required humility and submission to God's will.
The play's two opening speeches set up an opposition between the Prologue's view of boundless ambition as sinful presumption and Faustus's implicit claim that the Christian universe places unjust restrictions on human potential. Which side in this conflict do you think the play encourages us to take?
We saw earlier that the Prologue seeks to discredit Faustus's interest in necromancy by portraying it in terms of an intemperate appetite. Is there more evidence in the opening scene to support its claim? Have another look at Faustus's speech on page 4, lines 80—, in which he imagines the power that magic will bring him. What is it he wants to achieve with this power? What kinds of motives or desires do you think he expresses in these lines? Right away, then, he echoes the language of the Prologue and so identifies his own longing for godlike power with a gluttonous craving.
Faustus's motives in this speech seem to be mixed, neither all good nor all bad, rather like the Chorus's initial portrait of him. In this line he is voicing antipathy to an Elizabethan hate-figure. Doctor Faustus was written during a protracted period of military conflict with Catholic Spain. The Prince of Parma was the Spanish governor of the Netherlands, and in the s he was closely involved both in Spain's plans to invade England and in the suppression of a Protestant rebellion in the Netherlands which England supported.
This is a good example of the way in which reading literary texts with their historical context in mind can help to shed light on their meaning.
The mention of the Prince of Parma in this speech strongly suggests that Marlowe was, at least to some extent, seeking to arouse audience support for Faustus. There is no doubt though that the play keeps drawing our attention to its protagonist's weaknesses. The comic scenes in Act 1 serve to reinforce the connection between magic and appetite. This is one of the main functions of the play's comic scenes — to comment on the serious action. Time and again, Marlowe juxtaposes scenes so that the later comic one comments on the preceding serious one by re-presenting Faustus's ambitions in their lowest form, stripped of the power of his own speeches.
By techniques such as these the play diminishes its hero by exposing the triviality and foolishness of his aims.
Act 2, Scene 1 opens with another soliloquy. Please look now at this soliloquy page 15, lines 1— How would you describe its mood? Jot down any points you think are important about the way the language helps to create this mood. I would say that the mood of this speech is one of self-doubt and inner division. Just as in the first soliloquy, Faustus is talking to himself, but on this occasion the voice we hear sounds markedly less confident.
This voice seems to get the upper hand briefly, but Faustus silences it with an extreme statement of his commitment to the devil. Faustus appears to be wrestling with his conscience in this soliloquy. He clearly feels the urge to repent, so why doesn't he? So what's the point, he asks himself, of thinking of God or heaven?
If you count the syllables in lines 2 and 10, you will see that each line has only six. This means that in performance the actor would have to pause for a moment because the lines are shorter than normal, and this would have the effect of drawing attention to the sentiments expressed in the two lines, that is, to Faustus's despairing conviction that he cannot be saved and that God does not love him.
Why should Faustus feel so strongly that he is damned, when at this point in the play there seems to be every reason to believe that repentance will secure God's forgiveness? Some critics, most notably Alan Sinfield and John Stachniewski , have argued that Marlowe is exploring the mental and emotional impact of the form of Protestantism that prevailed in England during the late sixteenth century, based on the doctrines of the French-born Protestant reformer Jean Calvin.
Calvinist theology developed and changed over time, but at this historical juncture it stressed the sinfulness and depravity of human nature. In contrast to the traditional view of salvation as something that an individual could earn by living a virtuous Christian life, Calvinism argued that salvation is entirely God's gift rather than the result of any human effort.
Moreover, according to the doctrine of predestination, God gives that gift only to a fortunate few whom he has chosen; everyone else faces an eternity of hellfire. This theology formed the official doctrine of the Elizabethan Church. However bleak it sounds, its effect on believers was often positive; for those persuaded by their own virtuous impulses that they were chosen by God, it proved an enormous source of comfort and well-being, perhaps especially for poorer members of society, for whom the conviction of divine favour could be empowering.
But for some, these doctrines provoked a sense of powerlessness and anxious fear about their spiritual destiny. It is possible to argue that Marlowe's Faustus is a depiction of one of these casualties of Calvinist doctrine, and that this helps to explain not only his opening dismissal of Christianity as obsessed with sin and damnation, but his repeated inability to repent.
As in the soliloquy that opens Act 2, he cannot bring himself to believe that God favours him and has granted him salvation. The desire for repentance is overwhelmed by a still stronger belief, consistent with Calvinist doctrine in its early modern form, that the chances are that God does not love him at all.
Numerous critics have been troubled by a particular episode in the play that seems to cast doubt on the presence of divine mercy and benevolence. This is the moment in Act 2, Scene 3 when Faustus makes his most serious attempt at repentance. And what happens? Lucifer, Beelzebub and Mephistopheles enter. Why does God not intervene to save Faustus? The stony silence that greets his plea for divine assistance seems to call into question the traditional Christian notion of a loving and merciful God.
Other critics have argued that God is silent on this occasion because Faustus's repentance is insincere, and that he consistently fails to repent not because he is suffering from theologically-induced despair, but because he is afraid of the devils and constantly distracted by the frivolous entertainments they stage for him, like the pageant of the seven deadly sins which follows this episode.
One could argue as well that the play does represent the Christian God as loving and merciful, and shows human beings to be free to shape their own spiritual destinies. The Good and Evil Angels, after all, seem to give dramatic form to Faustus's freedom to choose: he has a choice between good and evil, and he chooses evil in full knowledge of what the consequences will be. As late as Act 5, Scene 1, the Old Man appears on stage to drive home the availability of God's mercy if only Faustus will sincerely repent his sins.
Looked at from this perspective, it is Faustus and not God who is responsible for the terrible fate that greets him at the close of the play. This critical debate serves to remind us that it is difficult to evaluate how much sympathy the play arouses for its protagonist without taking into consideration its treatment of the Christian God. If you think the God of the play is fundamentally benevolent then you are less likely to feel favourably disposed towards Faustus than if you think he comes across as a harsh and punitive cosmic despot.
It is clear, though, that the play offers textual evidence in support of both views. The knight is further developed and known as Benvolio in B-text versions of Doctor Faustus ; Benvolio seeks revenge on Faustus and plans to murder him. A candidate for the papacy, supported by the emperor. Bruno is captured by the pope and freed by Faustus. Bruno appears only in B-text versions of Doctor Faustus. Friends of Benvolio who reluctantly join his attempt to kill Faustus. Martino and Frederick appear only in B-text versions of Doctor Faustus.
SparkTeach Teacher's Handbook. Character List Faustus Mephastophilis. Themes Motifs Symbols. Mini Essays Suggested Essay Topics. Characters Character List.
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